LPP #32 Ravenous For Truth with Ariel Turner

Today I’m speaking with the lovely and verbose Ariel Turner. Ariel is a journalist and although she technically works a 9-5 I primarily felt drawn to her because of the distinctiveness of her job. Ariel is a food critic, she’s your real life Anton Ego: the restaurant critic the food from the movie Ratatouille. I personally had never met anyone who reviews restaurants for a living so I was very intrigued when I met her.

Naturally I went into my conversation with Ariel thinking we would be chatting about writing, journalism, or food? But this conversation took on a life of it’s own. And one I certainly wouldn’t have expected. And I think that’s the thing. With each interview I do, I’m learning that I am a guide. I do not aim to limit potential. Ariel took me off the map in this conversation. We went on tour of her life. This gems in this episode would never have happened if I had “stuck to the plan”. I gave her the space to lead me and share with me things like struggling with postpartum depression, battling suicidal thoughts, getting out of a bottomless pit of debt in her marriage, letting go of anger, the raw conflicts she’s encountered in her marriage and how they resolved them, her exquisite ability to practice empathy even in times of hurt and mistrust.

Sometimes the things we don’t want to talk about are the things that need to brought out into the light, because as I’ve said before when we keep the things that cause us to feel small and separate, hidden….they retain power over us. It’s when we have the courage to step out into the arena for all to see that we can be free. I gained so much from this conversation and all of its unexpected turns.

I also just want to take a moment to acknowledge the proverbial elephant in the room. The coincidental timing of this particular episode juxtaposed with last week’s episode is highly satirical. Where both my guest Jeni and I, each shared about our own eating disorder & our recovery. And on an anecdotal note: this was the first time I have publicly shared anything about my own eating disorder and my journey to recovery. I just want to say thank you again to all of you who listened to this episode. It was amazing to be able to share this with all of you and it quite honestly has felt like a weight has been lifted. It wasn’t immediate but I can feel my body is less tense and I think I owe that to all of you for listening to my story. I know for myself at least that I only scratched the surface of this topic and that there is really so much more to the story. If you want to hear more about my story, the recovery process, or have any questions, please let me know by sending me an email at engrid@livengproof.com